Shenandoah National Park

Little Stony Man Overlook - Shenandoah National Park - Virginia
Copyright Andy Richards 2007 - All Rights Reserved

SHENANDOAH NATIONAL Park is the 4th (and last - at this time) U.S. National Park I have visited. It is also the only other besides GSMNP that I have been to more than once. There are 63 U.S. National Parks. I am pushing '70. I doubt there is much likelihood I will visit all of them.

I HAVE, however, visited a couple "units" managed by the National Park Service, like Manassas Battlefield Park, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. There are 433 sites or units, including the 63 primary parks that are managed by the U.S. NPS. I would also like to visit a few other full Parks one day, however. Yosemite, Glacier, and Yellowstone have always felt like parks I would visit one day.

THE PARK

Little Stony Man Overlook - Shenandoah National Park - Virginia
Copyright Andy Richards 2007 - All Rights Reserved

MY FIRST visit to Shenandoah was a "day trip," in the middle of the summer. I was visiting my in-laws in Northern Virginia (suburban Washington, D. C.), as we often did during the summer months. My brother-in-law decided to take a drive up into the mountains and see the park. We decided to hike up to a well-known overlook, promising long and far views of the surrounding park. It was reasonably strenous, even nearly 20 years ago. Mid-day sun limits the images I was able to make, but since I was up there I had to make a few anyway.

Little Stony Man Overlook - Shenandoah National Park - Virginia
Copyright Andy Richards 2007 - All Rights Reserved

MY SECOND trip was in October, the same year. My wife and I went up for just an overnight stay in the Park to celebrate our anniversary. I made some time both in the evening and then again the next morning to do some shooting. A primary goal of this trip was to try to get a sunset image of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I was trying for that "layered" mountain range shot that proceeds and gets increasingly blue, dark and less detailed as it recedes in the distance. While I got something close, I didn't really get the shot I had planned in my minds-eye. It would be more than 15 years before I finally got a shot like that. When I did, it was in GSMNP from Kuwohi (formerly Clingmans Dome), on the Tennessee/NorthCarolina border). 

ONE OF the unique features of Shenandoah, is that it is mostly accessed from a single road: Skyline Drive, which runs over 100 miles north to south through the park from Front Royal, Virginia, all the way to The Blue Ridge Parkway, just west of Charlottesville, Virginia. It is the only public road in the Park. I haven't driven the entire length of it. Because our our near proximity (Northern Virginia/Washington, D.C. for many years) we would drive to Front Royal and then south from there. The furthest I have been is just a few miles south of Sklyland, where we stayed, to Big Meadows. That is about 1/2 of the way. There are numerous overlooks and hiking trails throughout and they no doubt create some good photo ops. I mainly stayed near the road, with the exception of the one evening when I hiked up to Stony Man for a sunset shot.

Sunrise - Shenandoah National Park - Virginia
Copyright Andy Richards 2007 - All Rights Reserved

THE NEXT morning, I got up well before sunrise and set out to try a couple spots I had semi-scouted for a sunrise shot. Much of the best overlook views, in my opinion (at least on the northern half of Skyline Drive) look to the west. This phenomena, along with some hazy morning conditions, meant I never really found a good sunrise image that trip. I did make a couple of sun "lit" shots. Both were to the west.

I ALSO walked out a road through the open meadow to a wooded spot toward the back, and made the "God Beams" image here. I have used that image as a banner background on prior iterations of my blog and website.

God Beams - Big Meadows - Shenandoah National Park - Virginia
Copyright Andy Richards 2007 - All Rights Reserved

I DID did see some wildlife. Black Bear are quite common in the Park and vicinity (enough so that a couple locals indicated they have reached a "nuisance" level). I guess that probably depends on your perspective. They most certainly were there first, though increased human presence (and particularly, food sources) have no doubt spurred a population increase. As I headed south on Skyline in the pre-dawn, I saw brake lights suddenly flash around the bend ahead of me. Windows down, I followed along just in time to see a mama bear and two cubs scramble quicly across the road in front of me and up the bank to my right. As they scrambled safely up to mama, she stopped and turned around to watch them (an probably me). Even if it had been daylight, there was no prayer of a shot, as they quickly moved into the woods and out of sight. But is is an everlasting memory.

A VERY short distance later, driving very slowly with my windows down in hopes of maybe spotting more bears, I heard an odd clickety-clackety sound. As I rounded the bend, I came upon two young whitetail bucks sparring - right in the middle of the road. They seemed pretty oblivious to my presence, but yet again, there was not enough daylight to even attempt a shot. Still, a fun morning.

Sunrise - Shenandoah National Park - Virginia
Copyright Andy Richards 2007 - All Rights Reserved

IT WAS a nice, albeit short trip. I think Shenandoah is one of those places you could do in a day (or two). Or if you wanted to immerse yourself you could hike, camp, and kayak or canoe for several days. Like all the parks, it would be very difficult to see all of it in only one trip and/or one day.

ACCOMODATIONS

THERE ARE very few accomodations in Shenandoah. At about the halfway point on Skyline Drive, there are two park operated facility with nice cabins for rent: Skyland and Big Meadows Lodge. We stayed at Skyland on our 2007 fall trip. The cabins look rustic, but are clean and had modern facilities. Both Skyland and Big Meadows have a nice restaurant which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner at posted time slots. We ate at Skyland and the food was very good. There is also a Taproom at each spot which is open from about mid-afternoon until 10:00 p.m. There are a couple of waysides and campstores that sell limited groceries.

IN OTHER places in the park (primarily at or near campgrounds) there are some limited availability rustic cabins that can be rented. There are also a couple campgrounds that allow both tent and RV camping. Some are by reservation only and some are first come, first served. It would be adviseable to check in with the NPS before planning a camping trip.

Skyline Drive, which runs over 100 miles north to south through the park from Front Royal, Virginia, all the way to The Blue Ridge Parkway, just west of Charlottesville, Virginia. It is the only public road in the Park

GETTING THERE

ALTHOUGH SKYLINE Drive is the only public road that traverses the park, there are actually 4 public road access points. The main entrances are at Front Royal, Virginia on the north, and Waynesboro, Virginia (about 20 miles west of Charlottesville) at the south end. Access from here is at or near the intersection of Interstate 64 and U.S. 250. Most will get there using I-64. To the north, Front Royal is right at the western terminus of I-66, just a short way from I-81. Most will come either from Washington, D.C. area on I-66, or from the west on I-81.